Day 15

After catiching the Colonia express to Buenos Aires we got a taxi to the hotel. This was the last stop of the 'In Search of Igassu' trip and we were all feeling nostalgic and sad to leave everyone! First we had a quick orientation then headed off shopping. BA is amazing! With a major european influence the capital city felt abit like central London with a latino flair! Embracing this flair on the evening we all went to another local drum show but with a different style - La Bomba de Tiempo. Here in an open warehouse two diferent drum groups played attracting large crowds. They created really complicated rhythms and sounds through various percussion instruments that would compare to or outshine many minimal house/ tech and dubstep dj's. The atmosphere was amazing with lazers and singers, we all loved it! Youtube it if you can, this is the local of the gig we went to I think!... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfmCOmk8zT0 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dEvinvTZOg&feature=related . After the show we headed to the after party where it got a little messy and some videos of dancing on the stage helped jog my memory the next day..! In the morning we all met for our last group meal and Cecillia made a little speech and gave us all a present as a souvenir, by the third word Kirsten and I were crying! I really was sad to leave the group, we had a great time and met some great people! But on the bright side most of us had at least that night together - the tango lesson and dance show!

After all getting ready we headed to the tango school. Here we gathered in the dance studio with other tourists/ travellers. After a nervous start we all quickly got into it and split into learders and girls! We all had a great time learning each step bit by bit and practising with everyone in the room. We all finally got our head around it but some were more keen than others to practise the tango face pose at the end! After gaining our certificate we headed through to the show room where we ordered our included three course meal and started on the drinks! The food and show was really good, the venue was really small so everyone was really close to the stage and the dancers came through the tables alot in the show. They also got people from the audience to particiapte and a few from our group were first to get involved! We all loved it and went back to the hotel happy with our tango experience!

Day 16

This was departure day so as everyone made their own way to the next part of the travels me and Faye headed off to the 'Fiesta Gaucho'. This was a day trip to a ranch in the North of Argentina to a traditional Gaucho ranch. We were promised horse riding, traditional food and an experience of traditional games and ranch. So after waiting over an hour for our pick up we began to feel abit jubious about the day. However the bus arrived and it seemed to look abit more promising, that was until we started to pick up the other people on the tour. By the third and final pick up we realised the average age of the tour was drastically dropped by our attendance, this was also supported by the additional city tour on the way to the ranch which consited of a description of the purpose of the main road, waterworks and other usual buildings and ammenities all cities have. So after a laughing about the situation it seemed to get even worse when the guide kindly told us of a serious warning, which I missed while looking at the numerous handouts we had showing us how to drink Mate. When I asked Faye what the serious warning was I delighted to find out that basically there was going to be a massive pervet waiting for us at the ranch which we all had to kiss! But on the brightside we realised the bus was for two trips and most the older members left our trip. So still with rather low expectations we arrived at the ranch and were more than pleasantly surprised! We were met with hot traditional empanadas, which were gorgeous, and a choice of wine, juice and coffee! We then went through to do our horseriding (which was the main reason we signed up to the trip). After getting on the horses we went through to another pen where we got a photo then suddenly the horses just stopped. No matter how hard we kicked etc they wouldn't move, me and Faye thought this was the icing on the cake, after signing up to the trip primarily for the horse riding we thought we got to sit on a horse in a small pen! So again laughing at the situation we were relieved when the two gauchos came through and the horses automatically started to follow them to the large field which we rode around! Faye lucked out getting a normal, quite tall horse where as I (as usual whenever I ride) got a short and stout one that must of been half donkey! But I loved my honkey, he was cheeky and lazy but cute!

After riding we heard the dinner bell and made our way through to the dining room. Here we had a traditional three course meal served for us with wine. The food was really good and we definately over induldged! During the main course there was a show which was another added bonus! With tango and other tradtional dancing, which they use two small, hard balls on the end of strings which they hit the floor with, various songs and music! We also had the chance to get up and dance so after been chosen by the 'pervert', who was actually the cutest, funniest old man ever (he is in the photos in one of the albums!) both Faye and I had a chance to put our dancing skills into action!

After lunch we all headed outside to watch the tradtional games. This consisted of the 4 gauchos charging towards a tiny ring hung on a high beam with a peg, with the aim of catching the ring. This was really impressive as the ring was so small and they were going so fast! Most the time they caught the rings. When this happened they had to give the ring to a girl watching, then the girl had to thank them with a kiss on the cheek! After both recieving a ring we were happy to have a little souvenir of the day! We got a few photos with the gauchos and the horses just before it was time to leave the ranch back for BA. After having such low expecations we were both more than pleasantly surprised and pleased! We loved the day and would recommend it to anyone!

Once back in BA we had to move over to our hostel for the next 5 nights, Millhouse. This hostel was amazing and would recommend staying here over any hotel if you go to BA. The staff, organised events, rooms, bathrooms and food were all absolutely excellent and we met great people here!

On the first night we met up with the people from our trip who were still in BA as it was one of the girls birthday, so heading to Palermo we had dinner and drinks together then said our final goodbyes!